Murder Mystery Witch
by HermioneCastle
Summary: Kate Beckett finds out that she is a witch. So she goes to Hogwarts School, during the time of Harry Potter. On the way she meets an annoying boy, who changes her life forever. That boy is Rick Castle.
1. Chapter 1

**_A.N.: _This is a Castle/Harry Potter Crossover. Mainly _Castle_ characters, just put into the Harry Potter verse. While I am doing Kate Beckett's POV, my friend Hufflepuff519 is doing Rick Castle's. **

**_Disclaimer: _I do NOT own anything from either _Castle_ or Harry Potter. Those rights belong to ABC and J.K. Rowling respectively.**

_**Chapter 1- Distress**_

Kate had just gotten up from a peaceful sleep. She had been dreaming about solving murders again. She swung her legs out of the midnight blue comforter to put her feet on the floor. With a gasp, she pulled her feet up again. For being the end of July it sure was cold in New York. She slowly replaced her feet back on the floor. Then, getting up, she walked over and pushed aside last night's Evening Prophet. Kate opened the curtains and let in the morning sun.

As she was standing at the window taking in the rays of golden light, she saw a black speck approaching from the east. It wasn't a plane or a helicopter- though she saw them often. It seemed to be a bird of some sort. Perhaps it was an owl? She knew that it wasn't the Daily Prophet owl- it probably already came. That must mean that it was-

Kate rushed out of her room, tripping over spare clothes and books scattered on her floor. As she reached the door, her dad, Jim, was coming out of the bathroom. "What's the hurry Katie?" he asked with a bemused expression on his face.

Kate didn't want to reply. This was something very important, but she couldn't refuse a question from her dad. "Dad," she said exasperated, "I think it's here!" and with that she jumped down the stairs three at a time. Kate rushed into the spotless kitchen and opened the back door. She looked out at their small garden, covered in frost and full of weeds. Just for a moment the thought crept into her head _Why won't dad just weed the darn thing already_? Then she looked to the sky, waiting for whatever the black speck was.

Their back door faced the west, the opposite side of there the bird was coming from. Maybe she was mistaken and it wasn't an owl bringing- No she couldn't think it and bring her hopes up. Only her mom was one after all. It was perfectly possible that she wasn't one, and then she would have to go to normal fifth grade. Kate couldn't imagine it. She purposely hadn't made any close friends because she planned on leaving school after she turned 11. Sure there were her acquaintances from academic decathlon and the math team. Two months ago she had turned 11- on the last day of school. How perfect was that! Symbolic really…

While Kate was daydreaming, her dad had gone to the front door to get the mail. He picked it up off the cold stone stairs of their brownstone, and stepped back inside the house. As he went through it, his face became even more depressed. A phone bill, an electric bill, another bill. The end of the month was not the best time to have to buy school supplies- or a plane ticket. And the last letter in the pile confirmed his fears- the school supplies and plane ticket were necessary. There was no way that his daughter was going to turn down this opportunity.

Kate heard her dad come into the kitchen and put the mail down on the table. She sighed, and turned around. She guessed that she would have to finally make some close friends at that school. Kate slowly shuffled across the linoleum floor of and sat down at the table with her head in her hands. Her dad looked up from the toast he had just pulled out of the toaster and saw Kate in a disappointed mood. "Katie? Why the long face?" he asked her. When Kate looked at him, she saw his concerned expression, and everything came tumbling out.

"Well you see, I was waiting for the letter from Hogwarts to arrive for nearly a month now. I've worked hard in school, and I know I should make it- only if I am like mom and I'm a witch.

"So this morning when I opened my curtains, I saw a black speck coming from the east. And you know that Hogwarts is in England, so it would make sense that the owl would be coming from the east, right?" Kate stopped and took a breath, waiting for her father's answer.

"Um? Yea, sure Katie. But-" he replied to her daughters strange question with a puzzled expression.

"So, I came down here and opened the door for the owl to come in. but it didn't. I know that it wouldn't have taken long for the owl to reach us here. So where is it? I'm so nervous I can hardly breathe! What am I supposed to do dad?" Kate finally finished. She felt her lungs getting tighter, and knew that she needed her inhaler. As she ran upstairs to get it, Kate left her father in a moment of disarray. How was he supposed to answer her? He knew that she had gotten the letter it was in the pile of mail, but he wanted her to be surprised when he saw it.

Meanwhile, Kate grabbed the inhaler from her bedside table where she had left it last night. Before returning downstairs, she looked longingly outside at the bright blue sky and the other brownstone houses across the street. She pulled her brown hair into a ponytail so it wouldn't get into her eyes. Why hadn't it been the letter. She was sure that it was an owl that she had seen. Maybe…what if it had dropped it on the doorstep? What if…

As Kate came to her realization, she grabbed her inhaler, and she spun around and practically flew to the bedroom door. She then raced down the stairs for the second time that morning. She stopped at the kitchen door and bent over double to catch her breath. She then took a gulp of the medicine into her lungs. Kate then stood up and looked into her father's shocked face. "Um Katie… where's the fire?"

"Nowhere dad," Kate replied feeling exhausted but oddly thrilled at the same time. "Did something come for me, by an chance, in the mail today?" Kate asked, trying to conceal the excitement in her voice. By the look on her fathers' face, it didn't work out too well.

"I think so," he replied, with a mischievous glint in his light brown eyes. "Why don't you look? I dropped everything that came on the table."

Kate gaped at her father, then rushed to the table and the pile of mail that her father had put down there not five minutes before. She picked up the large pile of envelopes and went through them. There was quite a lot of bills there. She shuffled through all of them, and it wasn't until the bottom letter that she saw the heavy parchment and emerald green script. She nearly dropped the rest of the letters in her excitement. Could this really be what she's been waiting for. As she slowly turned over the envelope she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, there was the scarlet seal of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Kate figured she had stared at the envelope for a full ten minutes at least. When she finally came out of her reverie, her father had already changed into his suit for work. "Well sweetheart, I have to get going to the office. Why don't you actually open the letter and see what it's all about. Then call me and let me know when I need to book the plane tickets for. Alright?" he casually asked, as if he got letters like this everyday. All Kate could do was nod and give him a big hug. Before she knew it, he was out of the house, and she had it all to herself.

Even though Kate had been waiting for the letter for nearly a month now, her stomach, however, couldn't wait much longer for food. So she carefully put the letter down on the table, almost scared that it might disappear while she was pouring herself some frosted flakes. She slowly walked over to the cupboard and pulled down a bowl, a glass, and the box of cereal and set them on the island. For about the millionth time she was thankful for being tall for her age. She then walked over to the stainless steel fridge and pulled it open. She looked for the milk jug, and finally found it behind her father's coffee creamer. She grabbed the milk, then shut the door with a bump of her hip.

While pouring out the cereal and milk, she daydreamed about what Hogwarts would be like. Her mom told her it was a big drafty castle, with hundreds of staircases and secret passages. But all she could come up with was a majestic English castle in the countryside. Before she realized it she had poured too much milk, and there was a puddle around her bowl. Kate grabbed the paper towel and wiped up her mess. She then grabbed the bowl and a spoon, then returned to the table to open her letter.

She sat down and gently loosened the seal. Then with great hesitation, she pulled the letter out of the envelope. The envelope was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope. She unfolded the letter and realized that it was also written in an emerald green ink. A smaller piece fell out, and Kate put it aside while she read the letter.

Dear Miss Beckett,

We are proud to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…

Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

By the end of reading the letter, Kate had to take another gulp from her inhaler. This was the news she was waiting for all summer! Going to Hogwarts was a dream of hers, and for the longest time she thought that it wouldn't come true! With afterthought, Kate thought she was being silly. How could she not go to Hogwarts? Her mother was the best Auror in the States.

With that thought, Kate finished her cereal. She then went to her mother's study to send the family owl to her mother at the American Ministry of Magic. She then spent the rest of her day in the study reading various wizarding books of her mom's.

**_A.N.:_ This is my first fanfiction. Reveiw and let me know what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So here is the second chapter. Bear with me. This is the first fanfic that I have ever written.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything belonging to Harry Potter or _Castle_. They belong to J.K. Rowling and ABC respectively.**

_**CHAPTER 2- Confusion**_

On the morning of August 25, Kate got up way too early for even her own liking. When she looked at her alarm clock, the emerald numbers read 4:59. Why was she up so early? She wondered to herself as she crawled out of bed. Then, a minute later, the alarm actually sounded. At five in the morning! The gall of it. She quickly made her way back to the night table to turn off the alarm. She pressed the small button, then turned around and headed to the door. On her way to the door, so she could get a drink of water from the kitchen, Kate stumbled over a large something. Her toe exploded in pain. She kept quiet though, knowing that a scream louder than her alarm would wake her parents for sure. And if there was no apparent reason for them to be awake, why wake them?

When she reached the doorway, Kate flicked the lightswitch. When she turned around, she realized why she had gotten up so early. There was a large antique looking trunk in the middle of the floor with the initials "K.B." engraved on the side. The lid was wide open and clothes, papers and books were overflowing the edges of the trunk like her own personal waterfall- minus the water.

The past few weeks suddenly came flooding back to Kate. All the reading she did in her mom's study. The preparations to leave the United States and New York. And all the bottled up excitement on her part. Today was the day that she was going to catch the flight from JFK airport and land in London. She was finally going to start the trip to Hogwarts!

Kate whirled around and raced to her parents room. She knew they would be awake. Why wouldn't they be? They were always up by now anyways. And didn't they say last night that the flight was at 7 o'clock? As she burst through their door, light flooded her. For a few seconds she had to blink furiously to get used to it. When her vision properly returned to her, she saw that both of her parents were indeed awake.

"Katie! Why aren't you dressed?" asked her mother. Johanna Beckett was dressed in tennis shoes, jeans, and a red blouse that buttoned up just far enough to make the men wonder. Her father on the other hand was wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, with no shoes at the moment. As a matter of fact, he seemed to have lost them.

"Ummm. I just got up?" answered Kate, wondering why on Earth she had to be dressed so early.

"Well go get dressed." Johanna answered. "We are supposed to be at the airport right now!" she explained in an exasperated tone as she pulled one of her husbands shoes out from under the bed sheets. He gave her an apologetic look, and put the shoe on. He then continued to look for the other shoe as Kate shuffled back down the hall to her room.

Kate stood in her doorway a moment before deciding to get dressed. For nine months she wouldn't be seeing this room. Instead she would be in a castle dormitory. She imagined a roaring fireplace with bunks and dressers. The windows would be big, but not let a draft in.

All of a sudden there was a tapping on the window. Kate awoke from her reverie, and strode around her trunk and everything around it, to open the window. She kneeled on the bench in front of it, unlatched the window, and her owl Bertie flew in and landed on the open trunk lid. In her beak was a mouse. A dead mouse. Taking it from Bertie's beak with her index finger and thumb, Kate tossed it in the garbage can. Bertie hooted and Kate took out one of the treats from the bag that was on top of her dresser.

Once Bertie was content, Kate pulled out a Yankees T-shirt and her favorite pair of jeans and put them on. She then grabbed all the stuff lying around her trunk and attempted to stuff it into the trunk. Kate could have sworn it had all fit yesterday-until she needed her extra inhaler. For some reason she couldn't find her first one, so she needed the extra- which just happened to be at the _bottom_ of the trunk!

Johanna watched from the doorway as Kate closed the lid of the trunk, and jumped on it to make it clasp shut. Unfortunately, all she seemed to be able to do is fall and bruise even more of her body, this time her rear end. "Organizio" she whispered. Almost as quiet as a whisper, the trunk organized itself, and clasped shut. As Kate jumped up and down because she had got her trunk to cooperate, Johanna, with a small smile upon her lips, turned around to make sure the house was ready to be left.

Meanwhile, Kate had finished celebrating, and started to finish cleaning her room so it would look presentable. She swept up the owl droppings and spare pieces of paper. Once that was done she put Bertie into the cage. As she pulled her hand out, it knocked against something metal and plastic. It was her inhaler. So that's where it went, Kate wondered as she pocketed the inhaler.

Kate took one last look around her room. For nine months it would essentially be empty. Then she grabbed one end of the trunk and dragged it across the floor and through the door onto the landing. She then walked over to the dresser, picked up the cage with Bertie in it, along with her treats. With a last wistful look into her room, Kate closed the door to her old life, and opened the door to her new one. The one that would lead her eventually to love, pain, and the greatest adventure of her life.

The Beckett's arrived at JFK Airport with an hour to spare. Unfortunately an hour to check in and go through security at JFK wasn't much time. For some reason, even though they were in a rush, everytime Kate looked at her mother, she was on the thing the muggles called a "sell fone". Kate couldn't get it. Why would her mother be on that thing when she was so anxious to not be last. If she was on that thing any longer they were going to miss the plane.

But they did make it on time. Actually nearly fifteen minutes early. Slowly they boarded the plane- "boarding pass please", up the hall, "welcome!", "have a good flight". Kate finally sank into the navy blue seat and buckled the belt. She could now catch up on the sleep she missed this morning. Kate stuffed the airplane pillow behind her neck and settled in for a nice nap.

Not even five minutes before they were supposed to take flight, Kate heard a squeaky annoying voice "Excuse me. I think you're in my spot."

It took her an effort just to open her eyes. She woke up soooo early that morning. Couldn't this annoying nine year old just leave her alone! But, inevitably she did look up at the stranger. Well, maybe not nine… he had brown hair that fell into his sapphire eyes. Though admittedly he was kind of scrawny. "Um. No. My ticket says 25C. That's the aisle-my seat" she said pointedly, even pointing at the seat she was sitting in.

"Uh, no you're wrong. That's my seat." Said the stranger pulling a look of determination onto his face.

"Fine then. Prove it," replied Kate, starting to get fed up with this twerp.

"I don't want to prove it. And I shouldn't have to." Answered the stranger indignantly. Kate noticed that his eyebrows furroughed, and his nose scrunched when he got mad. A smile appeared on her face. "What are you laughing at?" the stranger huffed?

"Well…" Kate started to answer. But a woman who seemed to match the boy in appearance, except for the hair- hers was red- came up to him.

"Ricky? What are you up to?" she said, condescendingly to him.

"Nothing." He said, looking crest-fallen. Suddenly he lost his determination, and his demeanor started to match his voice. "She's in my seat." Kate heard him, in almost a whisper.

"Oh dear. No she didn't. Yours is 25A. By the window." The woman said, pointing to the window-side seat. The boy gave her a look of disgust then looked at Kate. She got the point, and, not wanting to cross the woman, got up so the kid could go to his seat.

"I'm sorry Kate that he is causing so much trouble." The woman said to Kate. It took her a moment to realize that the stern woman was actually talking to her- and she knew her name…

"How…how…how do you know who I am?" she said incredulously. The look on the Kate's face was enough to put the boy into a fit of giggles.

"Oh, your parents and I go way back," she responded with an air of importance. She then bent over and whispered to Kate "longer than I care to admit". She then stood up and squeezed past Kate to get to her seat between Kate and her son. "Oh," she suddenly said turning around suddenly to look at Kate. She sat down and motioned for Kate to sit down as well. Kate cautiously sat down and looked at the woman with hesitation. The woman then spoke so quietly that only Kate could hear her. "My name is Martha Rodgers and this little rascal is Richard Castle. He'll be joining you for your first year at Hogwarts." And with that she leaned back, and Kate didn't hear from her for the rest of the flight.

The boy on the other had had other ideas. "It's Rick actually." He said, leaning on the arm of the chair between himself and his mother. Suddenly he jumped back like he was electrocuted. The seat back screen in front of him had turned on. He stared at it, then became engrossed in the TV. Typical boy, thought Kate as she adjusted the pillow behind her neck. If she was stuck with him the whole flight, then she would need to be asleep to live though it.


	3. Chapter 3

**So here is the next chapter. you know how it goes.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Castle. They belong to J.K. Rowling and ABC respectively.**

_**CHAPTER 3- Awe**_

Kate was sleeping peacefully. She was dreaming about Hogwarts. Going up and down all the staircases and hallways… She entered her common room. It only made sense that it was black and white. After all, if it was color, then she would know what house she was in. And for some reason, in one of the armchairs of the common room, was the strange kid! Suddenly, someone from behind grabbed her elbow and was saying her name "Kate. Katie, wake up…"

Kate woke up to a dark cabin. She then remembered that she was on the plane to London! She looked over to the hand that was on her elbow and followed it up the red sleeve to her mothers face. "Katie? You awake?" she asked, giving Kate an extra shake just to be sure. "We're about to land. It'll be night when we get there." She then held out a pack of gum. "Here. Chew this. Your ears won't pop like they did on the way up." Kate was sleeping at that point, but she must have made some kind of signal of distress. Oh well. She took the gum and started chewing.

It was five minutes before Kate finally fully woke up. She turned in her seat to look at the person next to her. There was a thin woman with short wavy red hair. And next to her was him. That annoying boy with a squeaky voice. Fortunately, he was looking out the window. Though she couldn't see his face, she knew it was similar to what hers might have been- awe. Because she couldn't look out the window, Kate just watched the screen and the countdown to when they would land.

Finally they landed at Heathrow airport in London. Kate got up out of her seat and stretched. Johanna had already gotten up and was opening the overhead compartments to get their carry-ons out. She gave Kate her blue carry-on, then stepped back so Kate could get into the aisle. Eventually, after ten minutes, the people in front of Jim started to move, and Kate followed her father off the plane.

It wasn't until Kate had gotten into the terminal that the person behind her lightly bumped into her. She turned around to see that kid again. Did he ever leave? Kat swung her head around and continued to follow her father, ignoring the kid as long as she could.

They hurried through customs and immigration. For some reason it was quick and easy. Kate wondered if maybe her mother had confunded the security guards? Nah. Her mother wouldn't do that. Or would she. They didn't question Bertie at all, and the trunks went through without a hitch, even though they did have some strange coins and the trunks themselves were not normal for muggles to be traveling with. If she thought about it again, Kate thought that maybe, just maybe, Johanna would do that.

As they were walking down the sidewalk, looking for a taxi, the boy (was his name Rick?) caught up with Kate. She glanced over at him but continued on. Johanna had stopped ahead of them. When Kate finally caught up with her, she noticed that Rick had stopped too. And the Martha stood next to Johanna.

"So, everyone there is a shuttle that stops close to the leaky cauldron. We can take that, grab a quick meal and head to bed. I don't think anyone would argue that this has been a long day for us all." Johanna exclaimed. Kate looked at her mom questioningly. 'We'? Then Kate realized that she actually meant that she would have to spend the next week before Hogwarts with _Rick_!

"The Leaky Cauldron? That's an odd name for a hotel." Mentioned Rick. Kate looked over at him. His brow was furroughed again.

"Well actually, Rick, it's a wizarding inn and pub. The 'Leaky Cauldron' part is mostly just a tip off to the fact that it's a bar." Replied Johanna.

"Sounds good" replied Martha. Kate could have sworn she heard some interest and relief in Martha's tone. "You know it's funny, I used to hear about that place, but have never actually been there."

"Well I suppose you wouldn't have been considering you are a muggle." replied Johanna.

"Muggle?" asked rick, confused. "What's a _muggle_?"

Kate rolled her eyes and decided she could ignore him no longer. "A muggle is a non-magical person. There's nothing bad about the word, it's just what most witches and wizards use when talking about folks outside the wizarding world." Kate couldn't believe that the kid was so ignorant about this world. She knew there were some wizarding stores in New York. Not very good ones, but he could have gotten a book about their world, couldn't he?

Rick nodded, seeming to understand Kate's explanation of a muggle.

"Yeah. Dad here is a muggle, just like your mom." Kate added as an afterthought, hoping to make him feel better.

"I'm still trying to get used to the idea that I have magical powers. It's like something out of a comic book." said Rick. Kate giggled at that. Then shut up when she saw the look that Johanna was giving her. Maybe they were talking a bit too loud about having magical powers.

Fortunately, the shuttle then pulled up. It was plain white, except for the taxi number on top. They all loaded their trunks into the trailer behind the shuttle. They climbed in, bucked up, and into the city they went.

Kate heard Johanna talking to the driver, but she didn't hear what was said. Instead, she was focused on London. All the buildings seemed old. There was a feeling of ancient power nestled in the city, just waiting to get out. Kate thought about all the books she had read about London, all the movies and TV shows that were based there. "Wow. This is amazing!" slipped out of her mouth, before she could even think about what she was saying.

"Well, at least you and I agree on _something_." said Rick. Kate was jerked out of her reverie. She looked behind her at the kid. She shook her head at his comment, then rolled her eyes and sighed as she turned around to look out of her window again.

Kate couldn't believe how wonderful London was. They passed over the Thames, and Kate couldn't help but see how beautiful it was, even though it was muddy and dingy, it was nothing compared to the Hudson.

Before they knew it, the cab dropped them off at a corner in downtown London. They picked up their luggage and the cabbie drove away. Kate, Jim, Martha, and Rick all followed Johanna as she led them down one of the side streets. Kate noticed that her mother had stopped in front of a black building. None of the people walking by seemed to notice the building at all. Kate looked up at the sign above the dingy door and thought that it was odd. It was of a witch (pointy hat and all) stirring a cauldron that seemed to have a crack in the bottom. Kate realized that this must be The Leaky Cauldron- the crack was a dead giveaway.

Suddenly Kate heard her name "…right Katie?" She looked up at her dad and nodded, then turned back to look at the inn. It didn't look like an inn.

Johanna opened the door and Kate stepped inside, pulling her trunk behind her. The room looked like a bar, with scruffy tables and chairs around the room, and a bar along one wall. Once everyone was inside, Johanna walked up to the bar and talked to a man there. When she returned, she was holding three keys. Kate looked up at her mom with a quizzical look on her face.

"Uh mom? Why are you holding three keys?" Kate asked her mother, sensing she already she knew the answer.

"Well you see, Martha is going to have her own room, your father and I will share another, and you and Rick will share the last room." Johanna replied, knowing the reaction that was going to come from both of the kids.

Kate stared at her mother in shock. Sharing a room with a boy. And an annoying one with a squeaky voice at that. This was going to be a long week. "Why?" she exclaimed at the same time as the kid. She turned to look at him with an even more shocked look on her face. Then turning back to her mother, Kate stared at her, leaving her mouth hanging open, waiting for her mothers reply.

"Because I said so." Replied Johanna. "And besides these are the only three left, and that's how it works out." Johanna added, knowing that there would be more 'why's' in the future if she didn't answer them now.

Kate stared at her mother, then closed her mouth and grabbed the key Johanna was holding out to her. At least her mother had enough sense to trust her with the key rather than the kid. Kate made her way between the tables, hearing him right behind her. When she got to the stairs she looked at the key. It had a small token with the number 10 on it. Kate then looked up the stairs, then at her trunk, then at the stairs again. She heard Rick giggle from behind her, and looked at him. "What exactly are you laughing at?" she asked him, exasperated. "You think you know how to get these trunks up the stairs?"

Rick face lost it's laughter then. He looked like he was going say a comeback, when Johanna flicked her wand from behind them, and the trunks started to go up the stairs on their own. Kate looked at her mother for a moment, then abruptly turned around and followed the trunks up the stairs.

She proceeded down the dark hall to the room that said 10 on it's bronze name plate. She slid the key into the key hole and turned. The door quietly creaked open to a small room with two twin beds. Kate slid her trunk to the end of the bed and pushed it down. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Rick doing the same thing. She went out into the hall and waited for Rick to get into bed, then returned to the room to change into her pajamas. She wasn't very sleepy, but when her head hit the pillow of the moth eaten bed, she fell asleep almost immediately, barely noticing the kid and his snores.

**A/N: I hope anyone who is reading this is enjoying it. Reviews will help future chapters come faster. Don't forget to check out Castle's POV in Hufflepuff519's story.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4-**

Kate woke up with a crick in her neck. At first she couldn't figure out why. But when she opened her eyes to the blazing golden sunshine, she realized why. All the memories from the day before came flooding back. The plane to London, finding out that the boy next to her was a wizard, and that she would be spending a lot more time with him.

With that thought, Kate looked over at the bed next to her and saw Richard Castle. He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping. Deciding to not be mean at this moment in time, Kate quietly stepped out of her bed and went to her trunk and grabbed a white tank top and some jeans from it. She then proceeded to the bathroom to brush her teeth, and change in private. When she opened the bathroom door, she peeked at Rick. He was still sleeping, so she grabbed her jacket, and her tennis, and went out into the hall to finish getting ready.

Once her tennis shoes were on, Kate went down the stairs, hoping that one of her parents would be up already. It couldn't be too early? When Kate got to the bottom of the stairs, she saw her parents and Martha Rodgers sitting at one of the tables in the middle of the room. She strode over to the table and sat down in one of the vacant chairs.

"Morning sweetie," Johanna said without looking up from the paper she was reading. Kate glanced over at it and saw the pictures moving. Though she knew that they did that in this world, it was still a shock. Johanna looked up from her paper to see Kate staring with a shocked expression on her face at the moving pictures on the front of the paper. "Do you want anything to eat Kate?" she asked.

It took a couple of times asking and some waving in front of Kate's face to get her attention. "Uh, yeah. Some eggs and toast will be fine. And a glass of milk please." While Tom, who was apparently the barman and the cook, came to get her order, Kate continued to stare at the pictures. Eventually Kate looked away from the pictures only for her food. Martha left the table, and in the middle of a mouthful of eggs, Kate asked her mom, "By the way, where are we going today?".

Johann a gave her a stern look and didn't answer until Kate had gulped down the eggs, and muttered a small 'sorry'. "We are going to first go to Gringotts the Wizarding bank, then on to Ollivanders to get you a wand." Kate wasn't able to keep the excited look off her face. 'Her first wand? And wasn't Gringotts run by goblins." In her excitement, Kate wasn't hungry anymore and pushed the eggs and toast away from her. At that moment Martha returned and seconds later Rick was sitting in the other vacant seat at the table.

"Good morning Rick," Johanna said to him as she pushed the other half of Kate's breakfast towards him. "Sit down and have some eggs and toast here before we go."

"You're going to need the energy young man." Jim told Rick as he grabbed the fork and shoveled the food into his mouth as if the world was going to end. He looked up when Mr. Beckett continued, "Trust me, these women" and he pointed at Johanna and Kate, "can shop for hours. We might have a hard time keeping up." Jim looked at the expression on Rick's face, and continued to drink his coffee.

Noticing that he had just taken a large bite of his eggs, Kate leaned on the table and said "Hey, Rick, you as excited as I am?" he looked at her and started to chew faster. "I can't wait to go to Ollivander's. I wonder what mine will be like." Kate had always wondered what kind of wand she was going to have. She believe highly in wandlore and knew that each wand had a meaning for the owner.

When he was done with his mouthful, Rick asked "Wonder what your _what_ will look like?" and he truly did look confused.

Kate realized that he didn't know what she was talking about. "Oh, I forgot you don't know who Ollivander is. He's the best wand maker out there. Surely you knew that you had to get a wand?"

Kate saw that Rick finally seemed to be on the same page as her, or at least closer. "Anyway, we'll be going there today. You can get your wand then too. Mom says that you don't choose a wand, it chooses you. Isn't that right, Mom?" Kate looked at her mom expectantly.

Johanna, who was listening to their conversation replied "Sure is sweetheart." With a glance at Richard, she got up and said "Rick you appear to be done eating, shall we head out everyone?"

"Yes, I daresay we should." Martha agreed.

"Alright, so how do we get there?" Rick asked, looking downright confused.

Kate, who Johanna explained how to get from the pub to Diagon Alley, looked at Rick, and said menacingly, "I'm so glad you asked Rick." And with another look at his shocked, open mouthed expression, Kate followed her mother to the back of the pub and into a small alley.

Once they were all in, Johanna tapped the bricks in a specific order. Once she was done, the bricks began to move. Even though she was prepared for the portal to open, she still stared at it. However, it was what was on the other side of the wall that made Kate stare in wonder. "Welcome everyone, to Diagon Alley." Johanna exclaimed, smiling with pride. Kate just stared. The street was filled with all kinds of people, mostly in robes. There were signs for all kinds of things- a joke shop, an owlery, an apothecary, and even a store that sold brooms.

Jim who had noticed her staring, came up beside her and gently closed her mouth. Kate looked up at her father, and blushed, hoping that Rick hadn't noticed. When she looked over at him, Martha was waving a hand in front of his face, "Richard, can you come back to Earth please?" Suddenly he came out of his stupor, and Johanna began to lead them towards a large lopsided building at the other end of the street. Kate guessed that it was Gringotts, and sure enough when they reached it there was a sign above the door saying 'Gringotts' in large gold lettering.

When they entered the enormous enterance hall of the bank, they were welcomed by a small nearly-hairless creature with glasses and pointy ears. Kate had to suppress her laughter. It was just so cute!

"Hello," said the creature, which Kate guessed that it was a goblin. "Can I offer you folks some assistance?"

Johanna politely responded, "Yes, we need to make a withdrawal from my vault and exchange some Muggle money."

The goblin nodded in understanding. "Follow me."

He led them down the length of the Entrance Hall until at the very end of the high desks. The last one, he got behind, and asked "Name?"

"Johanna Beckett,"

"Ah, here we are," the goblin replied, looking through the ledger book and finding Johanna's name. Kate gawked at his long fingernails, and wondered how he could do anything with them. "Do you have your key?"

"Of course," Johanna replied, and reached into her pocket. Kate looked closely at the bronze key. It seemed very elegant and on both sides it said '1200'.

The goblin took the key from Johanna, inspected it, and didn't seem to find anything wrong. "Thank you, come this way," he said, and the group followed the goblin down the main corridor to a main platform. Kate saw a cart on some railroad tracks, and the goblin motioned for the Beckett's to get into the cart. Kate realized that there wasn't enough room for the Martha, Rick, and the goblin. But just as the thought came into her head, another cart pulled in behind theirs, and the others got into that.

The moment the goblin was into the second cart, they started to move down the tracks, the further they went, the further down they went, and the faster the carts moved. Kate tried to keep track of the different turns and forks they took, but it was to no avail.

With an abrupt jerk, the cart stopped in front of a vault with a large wooden door. Above the door on a bronze plate was '1200'. The goblin had already gotten out of the cart and was waiting by the large door. The goblin held out his hand once they were grouped around the door and asked Johanna, "Key please."

Johanna gave him the key, and he slipped it into the lock. With a loud click, the door opened to reveal several piles of gold, silver and bronze coins. Kate had never seen so much money in her life. With a glance over at Rick, she noticed an awed expression on his face as well. His face also held the look of confusion. Kate realized then that Rick had probably never seen wizard money. With a nudge, Kate whispered, "That's what wizard money looks like. The gold ones are called galleons, the silver ones are sickles and the bronze ones are knuts."

Rick gazed at her with surprise and asked, sounding slightly annoyed, "How do you do that?"

Kate was confused. She hadn't done anything strange had she? "Do what?" she asked, utterly confudled.

"Manage to know what I'm thinking and answer my questions before I ask them." He replied.

'Oh, that.' Kate thought. She looked at him with a knowing look, "Your face gave you away." With that, Rick's face sunk, but he quickly tried to pull a bored expression on his face, but Kate could see right through it. She had always had a knack of reading faces, ever since she was little. She thought it was funny how he was trying so hard to hide his true feelings, when she could see right through his façade.

Johanna filled a small pouch with some of each kind of coin, then returned to the cart. Martha looked green, and looked at the carts like they were some giant monster about to eat her. But she got into the cart anyways. Once they got to the main platform, Martha hurried out of her cart and leaned over, with her hands on her knees. "Ugh. I do believe I may be sick." Kate could hear her mutter.

"Yeah mom, you're starting to turn green." Rick replied looking at his mom with concern.

Luckily her feelings seemed to ebb away quickly, and color came back to her face. Johanna helped Martha exchange just the right amount of money that Rick would need for his school supplies. The goblin that took them down to the vault helped them out, and handed Martha a similar pouch to the one that Johanna used to hold her money.

Kate was beginning to be bored. She wanted to get her wand so badly. She had been waiting for a very long time for this day, and Rick was making it take longer than she wanted. Kate looked up at her father, and he just smiled back, hoping that it would be reassuring. He knew that Kate was looking forward to her wand. Afterall, she had been talking about it for the last month.

Kate was so excited, that she didn't even notice that the group had headed out of the bank, down the street, and into a small store. It wasn't until Rick asked, "Hello. You must be Mr. Ollivander?" that Kate realized that they had entered the wand shop. Kate looked around the shop at all the boxes that covered the walls from floor to ceiling.

"Why yes I am young man. Am I right in assuming that you are in here looking for your first wand?"Kate heard Mr. Ollivander ask Rick.

"Yes, me and Kate here." Kate looked up when she heard her name, and slightly blushed when the old man looked at her.

"And these must be your parents?" he asked, looking at the adults of the group.

He first shook hands with Martha. "Pleasure to meet you ma'am. I don't believe I have ever seen you in my shop before. I remember every wand I have ever sold…" Kate tuned them out, and looked again at the wands on the walls, wondering which one would be hers. It wasn't until Mr. Ollivander was talking to Johanna that Kate decided to start listening again.

"…Birch, dragon heartstting, 10 and ½ inches." He recalled.

Johanna looked shocked. "Yes! That's amazing."

Mr. Ollivander had a smug look on his face. "Like I said, I remember every wand I've ever sold. Now, who is this enchanting young lady?" he asked, suddenly looking at Kate. Kate stared at her shoes and felt the blood rush to her face.

Johanna was the one to reply, "This is my daughter, Kate. And this is my husband Jim."

"Lovely to meet you all," said Mr. Ollivander, as he turned around to the shelves. "Let's see here. Ah." He pulled out his own wand and gave it a wave. Immediately a measuring tape started to measure every inch of Rick's body. Kate couldn't help but laugh when it started to measure his head, then his armpits. Unfortunately, the measuring tape moved on to Kate, and the laughing ceased. Kate noticed the tape measuring the length of her ponytail when Mr. Ollivander gave Rick a wand.

Rick just stared at it. "Well, give it a wave." Mr. Ollivander urged. When Rick did, the lights flickered and several pieces of parchment fluttered to the floor.

Rick's face light up. "Cool. That's the first bit of magic I've ever done…well, knowingly." He said with a small smile.

"Interesting," said the wand maker, looking thoughtful. "We shall see. Kate," he said, turning to Kate. She looked back at him, "why don't you try this one?" he asked, handing her a different wand.

She took the wand, feeling nervous. What if this wasn't it? What if they couldn't find 'her' wand? She looked over at her parents and they gave her identical looks of encouragement. She finally got up the courage and waved her wand. Electric blue sparks flew out of the wand and Kate took a jump back. She didn't think that that was how the experience was supposed to happen.

When Kate looked back up at Mr. Ollivander, he was thoughtfully looking to Kate, then Rick, then back to Kate. "Switch."

"What?" Rick and Kate said together.

"Switch." he repeated. "The wands, switch them."

Kate looked at Rick, and he looked back with the same look. Then she held out the wand she was holding, and he held out the one he was holding. Right as the wands switched hands, there was an electric surge between the two, and then an eerie silence filled the store.

It was finally Mr. Ollivander who spoke. "I think we have it," he exclaimed, quite loudly. Then he continued more quietly, "Mr. Castle your wand is 11 ¼ inches, made from the Cherry tree, the core is the most interesting part…" Again Kate tuned out the conversation until it was directed at her. "Ms. Beckett, your wand, is 10 ¼ inches, Ash, with a core of unicorn hair." Kate gave Mr. Ollivander the largest smile she could, then looked at her wand. She had been waiting for such a long time for this, and finally it was hers!

**Finally it's done! I had to wait for Hufflepuff to finish her part before I could begin mine. Sorry I don't have a cool story for the wand. I just went with it. **

**So for the next chapter, it might be a while. School is almost done for the summer, and I don't get very fast internet at home. Bear with me and I will get the next one up ASAP!**

**Read and Review! Good or bad, I don't care!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry for the delay. I've kind of had writers block for the beginning of the summer vacation. Here it is though! Hope everyone enjoys it.**

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Castle. They belong to J.K. Rowling and ABC respectively. (though I wish I did!)_

_**CHAPTER 5-Reluctant**_

After getting her wand, Kate was too excited to do anything else that day. So the group went to Florean Fortescue's for ice cream then spent the rest of the afternoon window shopping. Kate didn't pay much attention to what they were doing. She couldn't keep her mind off the wand. It was the one thing she was waiting for ever since she got her Hogwarts letter- actually before that.

The afternoon flew by, until Kate heard "Katie? What do you want to eat?" Kate jerked her head up to look at the person talking to her. Her father's eyes were looking at her in concern.

"Um…Sheppard's Pie please." Kate replied. She hadn't realized that the afternoon was gone and they were back in the dining room of The Leaky Cauldron. The five of them were sitting at a round table in the corner by the stairs and Tom was taking everybody else's order for dinner.

Dinner was fantastic. Kate didn't think she had ever eaten such a good meal. Not even Johanna could have done better- and she was an amazing cook. After her last bite of pie, Kate barely stifled a yawn. Johanna, however, noticed the yawn and smiled. "I think it's time for bed," Johanna exclaimed to the group. "Tomorrow will be a long day."

Kate didn't even feel like arguing. She followed Rick up the stairs to their room. She knew that she should change, but Kate just wanted to cuddle under the blankets. However, she grabbed a t-shirt and pajama pants from her trunk and went into the bathroom to change. When she came out of the bathroom, Rick had already changed and gotten into bed and was now reading a book. Kate noticed that it was a Sherlock Holmes book.

"Good book?" she asked as she pulled back the covers of her bed and crawled in.

Rick looked up with a surprised look and just nodded. Kate leaned over her bed and blew out the candle by her bedside so the only one left on was the one by Rick's bed. Kate mumbled a "night", and turning her back to Rick fell asleep almost immediately.

The next morning Kate woke up to a blood curdling scream. She sat up and looked around wildly. It didn't take long to realize that the scream had come from the bed next to hers. Rick was staring up, frozen, at a barn owl above his head. It was holding a dead mouse in it's beak. Kate giggled as she climbed out of bed.

"Morning Rick!" she said with a smile looking down at him, as she held out her arm for the owl to climb onto. He just stared at her as she put the owl onto the top of her trunk. Kate smiled inwardly, realizing that she hadn't told Rick about Bertie.

"Er. What…_who_ is that?" Rick asked.

Kate turned and smiled at him. "This," she said indicating to the bird, "is Bertie, spelled B-E-R-T-I-E." she replied to him. "I got her in New York and had to smuggle her into the country."

Rick just rolled his eyes and rolled over, huffing in exasperation. Kate grabbed a clean green t-shirt and denim Capri's as she went into the bathroom to shower and brush her teeth. She came out, slipped on her pair of white flip flops, and went down to the dining room.

To Kate's surprise, Johanna was talking to a woman with short bright pink hair. The woman was talking and using her hands a lot. Kate walked up to the two women, and sat down at the nearest table to them. It was five minutes before Johanna noticed that her daughter had joined them.

"Oh Katie dear," Johanna said turning to Kate. "This is my friend Nymphadora Tonks," she said, motioning to the younger woman. "She is my correspondent in the British Ministry."

The young woman nodded and shook Kate's hand. "It's just Tonks. I hate being called Nymphadora." She told Kate. Lowering her voice "I would have thought that your mother would have known that." She said with a smile and then turned to talk to Jim who had just come down the stairs.

Johanna sat down next to Kate and picked up a newspaper that was sitting there. Before she got engrossed into the paper, Johanna motioned for Tom to come over. "Order whatever you want sweetie. Today we're going to get books and potions supplies." And with that, Johanna turned to reading the paper.

Kate ordered toast and jam, with a small side of eggs. She didn't want Rick to finish her breakfast. It was embarrassing knowing that she couldn't finish something as small as breakfast.

Luckily she didn't have to worry about Rick eating her breakfast. Soon after ordering Rick came to the table. He was still in his pajamas, and didn't even look like he was fully awake. With a plop he sat down next to Kate, crossed his arms, and put his head down on them. It was soon obvious why Rick was so sleepy still. Martha was coming down the stairs, bright and chipper, looking ready for the morning. Kate guessed that Martha had woken Rick up, and he was in need of a bit more sleep. Bertie waking him up probably didn't help either.

"Morning!" Kate said to him cheerily, knowing the dark look she would get from him.

And sure enough he looked up with a glare that would kill Kate if facial expressions could do so. He put his head back down and mumbled something that was indistinguishable.

"Rick, that's not polite," Martha exclaimed as she sat down between Rick and Johanna. "Please make sense next time you're talking." Rick looked up and gave his mother the same look he gave Kate then continued trying to sleep. Kate could see that this was normal for Rick and Martha, as she just shrugged it off.

Trying to start a conversation with Rick, Kate said "Today we're going to get books and potion ingredients! Aren't you excited?" Kate could tell he was, because when she mentioned books, his head shot up.

"Really?" he asked, almost with awe. Before Kate could answer his question, Tom put down her breakfast in front of her, and Rick gave his order for breakfast. After that, both of the children were too focused on their breakfasts to talk any more.

In the middle of a piece of toast, Kate heard Rick exclaim "The pictures are moving!" She looked up and sure enough the photos on her moms paper were moving. She knew that they did that over here but had never actually seen a moving picture. The picture was of a vault in Gringotts and goblins moving outside of it looking confused.

"Yes Rick, they do move." Johanna replied to Rick. "All of the pictures in this world move. It's part of the 'magic'." She explained, with a smile on her face.

Rick replied by just staring at the picture some more, and finished eating his breakfast.

Once both Kate and Rick had finished their breakfasts (Rick went upstairs quickly to change out of his pj's and rushed back down), and the adults had finished their coffee and toast, the Beckett's, Martha, Rick, and 'Tonks' headed to the back of the room and the moving wall. Kate was still stunned by the wall, but didn't show it. Showing weakness was not a good idea she learned in school. She had lost many books to bully's who knew that she loved her books more than anything (other than her family).

As they walked down the street, Kate was able to take in more than the day before. Many shop windows were filled with bright colored boxes and many other things. Kate saw one with brooms, another with owls, and even one that seemed to have snakes in jars.

"So," Tonks said to Kate and Rick, "are you excited for Hogwarts?"

"Yea!" Kate replied. "I've been waiting for my letter ever since I can remember."

"Sure am." Rick replied once Kate was done. "I never knew about this world, so the letter was a surprise, but I sure am excited now." Kate thought he looked like he was about to blow up with excitement.

At that moment they stopped in front of a store that had many books in the front windows. "Well this is where I leave you guys," said Tonks. "I have to go over to Gringotts, then I'm due at the Ministry." She explained with a pained expression on her face. After giving Johanna and Martha a hug, and shaking hands with Jim, she turned to Rick and Kate. "Good Luck at Hogwarts. Don't get into _too_ much trouble." She smiled and with a wink, turned and walked towards the towering marble building that was Gringotts.

Kate smiled and followed the adults into Flourish and Blotts. The shop was enormous, with two floors and numerous shelves filled with books. Kate went down one aisle and found a book titled _1001 Ways To Curse Your Friends Without Getting Caught_. Kate couldn't help thinking about all the curses it contained that she could use on Rick. But unfortunately Johanna caught her looking at the book, and Kate had to move on. _Wait a minute. Did I just sort of call Rick my friend? Are he and I becoming friends now?_

After about five minutes of roaming the store, Kate heard her name being called. She made her way to the back of the store. There Johanna introduced her to the owner of the store, along with her parents and Martha. Johanna was holding a pile a pile of books, along with Martha.

Behind her Kate heard Rick suddenly exclaim, "What? I just found a wizarding mystery book? Can't we wait?" Kate turned around and was him, and was surprised that he truly did look down.  
>"Sorry Ricky," Martha said. "But we have a full day ahead of us. Next we're heading over to get potion ingredients and after lunch we're going to get robes for you two."<p>

As they left the store, Kate noticed that Rick looked really sad, but when they reached the store with snakes in jars outside, he did seem to look a bit better. The inside of the building was dull, but Kate was able to see all the jars on the shelves surrounding the main room. Out of the darkness at the back of the shop appeared a hunched man. He was balding, but had long black hair that reached his elbows. The robes he was wearing didn't seem very clean, or even relatively new. They were torn with stains Kate didn't even want to guess at on them.

"May I help you?" he asked in a gravely, monotone. Kate just stared at him and the jars behind him.

It was Jim who finally answered. "Erm..yes. We need two beginner potions kits. These two youngsters are just starting their first years." Kate was able to take her eyes off the man and look at her father. He didn't seem comfortable, but seemed to be in charge.

The man looked down at Kate and Rick. "Ah yes. New Hogwarts students." He smiled and Kate saw that he was missing several teeth. He slowly made it over to one of the shelves and pulled off two small boxes, and returned to his desk. Looking at Kate and Rick, though speaking to Jim, he said quietly "Two galleons, 5 sickles. Each." He said and suddenly looked up at Jim.

"Right." He replied and reached into the pouch of coins and pulled out two galleons and 5 sickles. Martha then stepped up to the counter and paid for Rick's kit as well.

"Thank You much." The store owner whispered quietly. And with that, the group hurried as fast as they could out of the store.

Johanna led them back to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch. As they sat down, Tom came up and got their orders (three burgers and two salads). "So, seeing as we are ahead of schedule, we can actually go get the robes done today." Johanna said, turning to look at the two kids. Kate wasn't very excited. She hated clothes shopping, and she was sure this was going to be no different. All the pinching and prodding- she couldn't stand the tailor made clothes that Johanna made her get. And with a glance at Rick, Kate could tell that he wasn't excited.

"Couldn't we wait till tomorrow mom?" Kate asked.

"Nope. We have other things to do tomorrow." Johanna replied, and looked at Kate with a knowing smile on her face.

So, once they were finished with their lunch, the five of them went back to Diagon Alley. Kate followed reluctantly. Johanna led them into a small shop that had fabrics galore. The sign above the door said _Madame Malkin's Robes for Occasions_. As they were entering the store, a large family of red-headed, freckly people was just leaving. The robes they got seemed to be hand-me downs. Kate hoped that she wouldn't need hand-me downs. Maybe that would mean no poking and prodding though…

"New Hogwarts students I suppose?" Kate saw a small witch wearing orchid robes standing behind a measuring desk. She supposed that this witch must be Madame Malkin. Kate merely nodded. "Hand-me downs or new?" the witch asked, glancing at Johanna, Jim, and Martha.

"New please," responded Martha. The witch looked at Johanna and she nodded her agreement with Martha. Kate made a small groan. Poking and prodding.

Johanna gave her a sharp look. "Start with Kate." She said, motioning to Kate with her arm. As the witch led Kate away, she turned her head around and stuck her tongue out at her mom. Johanna just smiled and waved Kate on.

She grudgingly followed Madame Malkin into the backroom, which was filled with black fabric, along with some blue, bronze, red, gold, green, silver, and yellow. Madame Malkin took a robe off a shelf and held it up to Kate. She then returned it and tried another. This one seemed to be right, so she slipped the fabric over Kate's head. The robe was slightly too big, and that was when the poking and prodding began.

Though it wasn't as bad as Kate had guessed it would be, it was bad enough. In the end, she had five sets of school robes, with matching skirts, shirts, and pants.

"When you get to school," Madame Malkin explained, "and once you're sorted into your houses, then you will get scarves and gloves, and other garments that match the house colors." Kate merely nodded. She hadn't even thought about which house she was going to be in! Gryffindor was brave, Ravenclaw was smart, Hufflepuff was compassionate, and Slytherin's were cunning. She was sure that Rick was going to be in Slytherin, but what would she be?

Kate's thoughts were cut off when she stepped into the main shop. Rick was there holding his robes, and Johanna was paying for Kate's robes. She hadn't realized that Rick had already been fitted.

Johanna looked up and saw Kate standing in the doorway. "Ready?"

"Yep." Kate replied.

Johanna looked over at Rick and Martha. "Yea I'm done, Mrs. Beckett." Rick replied.

"Good. Let's get back to the Leaky Cauldron for dinner then." Johanna stated, and the group left the store. They headed back up the street. The broom store caught Kate's eye, and she put it down into her memory to ask her mother if they could go there tomorrow.

After dinner, Kate and Rick got ready for bed and crawled under the covers. Rick picked up his book again and Kate turned the light off. She turned away from Rick and fell asleep to thoughts of flying circles around Rick on a broom.

**A/N: So there it is. R&R please! Hopefully the next chapter will come quicker.**


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6: Excitement

"Platform 9 ¾? Ok, now you're just making stuff up." Rick huffed at Kate when they reached the train station and loaded they're trunks onto the trolleys.

Kate rolled her eyes. She had been trying to tell Rick all morning that they were going to be going through a 'magical' barrier, but he didn't seem to believe her. "I'm not lying. It says so right on your train ticket. Look," she held up her own gold trimmed ticket and pointing to the large '9 ¾' printed on the ticket.

He stared at her open mouthed as if he were trying to catch flies. "Rick, I don't know why you continue to question me constantly," she inquired. He had been constantly asking questions all week. "You accept the fact that you're a wizard, but you refuse to believe most of what I try to tell you about the wizarding world. I'm doing you a favor, so you don't come off as a complete idiot when we get to Hogwarts and you just don't seem to appreciate it."

Rick turned around, looking apologetic, "You're right. I'm sorry. All of this you've been telling me has been very helpful."

"Thank you," Kate smiled, and looked at the train that was leaving the station to their left.

Johanna noticed that the kids had stopped arguing, and chose that moment to start explaining how to get onto the train.

"Alright kids, here's how this is going to work. Rick I know this is new for you so I'll explain it for you. You see that brick pillar right in front you?" She indicated to the wall in front of them. Kate merely gave her a look saying 'Of course! Duh!'. "All you have to do is walk straight through it. Before you say anything I know what you are thinking. 'How does one get through a solid brick wall' right? Well remember the back alley of The Leaky Cauldron that opened up to Diagon Alley?"

"Yes." Rick replied. Kate nodded in agreement. Her mom had told her about this before, but Kate had to make sure she knew everything about this. She didn't want to mess up in front of all these people.

"It's just like that. But, instead of the wall moving, you are just going to be moving through the wall. It will take you straight through to platform 9¾. Understand?" Rick nodded. Johanna turned to Kate, "You understand all of this too, right Katie?"

Kate nodded. "Yes Mom," she said impatiently. Now that she knew how to get through, all she wanted to do was do so.

"Alright. Kate, sweetie, why don't you go first? The rest of us will meet you on the other side."

Suddenly, Kate was feeling nervous. What if it wasn't going to turn out how she wanted? What if she made a fool of herself in front of everyone in Kings Cross, and Platform 9 ¾? She wouldn't be able to live with herself if it didn't work. And she would never be able to talk to Rick again. She didn't want to admit it, but what he thought did matter to her.

Kate plucked up her courage, and put on a strong face. "Ok," she said. She could feel the quaver in her voice and hoped no one had noticed. As she walked by Rick, she couldn't help but whisper "See? I told you so," just loud enough only he could hear.

Kate looked at the barrier. It didn't look too threatening. She squared her shoulders, and lining up her trolley with the barrier, pushed it towards the wall. Even though she knew that she _should_ make it through, she closed her eyes anyways and sped up to almost a run.

When she didn't hit anything, she opened her eyes and pulled her trolley to a halt. At first she could only see the milky steam, but then she saw where the steam was coming from—a giant red steam engine. There were lots of kids and parents milling around on the platform, and even more kids were hanging out of doors and windows. Kate hadn't known there would be this many people.

Suddenly, someone came out of the barrier behind her. Kate turned around to see Rick gaping at the train and the people as well. She then noticed that Martha had come through with him. Her face matched her sons. She gave them both a couple of seconds before pulling them out of his reverie. "Hey," she said. They didn't seem to hear her. "Hey," she said louder, and they finally turned to her. "I see you made it through in on piece." she said with a smirk.

"Disappointed are you?" Rick responded, though Kate could tell he was kidding. His face had a huge grin on it. Kate only rolled her eyes.

"Well," Martha spoke up, "That wasn't anywhere near as weird as the trip through the underground caverns of Gringotts. I hardly felt a thing." Martha guided Rick and Kate towards the train, and away from the barrier to wait for her parents. Not even 30 seconds later, they came through the barrier, hand in hand.

"Everyone here?" asked Jim, looking around at Kate, Rick, and Martha.

"All present and accounted for," said Martha, laying a hand on Rick's shoulder.

Kate realized that they were really close to going to Hogwarts. All of a sudden, the nervousness from going through the barrier dissipated, and the adrenaline started to pulse through her. "Well then, let's get going!" she said, perhaps with a bit too much enthusiasm. Toning it down she continued, "We still need to get our stuff on the train."

Johanna hadn't missed her daughters enthusiasm. "Fine, impatient one. Let's find you two some seats."

After walking down the length of the train, they finally found an empty compartment halfway down the train. With Jim's help, they got the trunks onto the train, then stepped off of it for some last goodbyes.

As Martha took Rick off to the side, Johanna and Jim decided that they wanted to talk with their daughter as well. "Katie?" Jim started.

Kate was watching all the different people on the platform. A couple of red-headed boys were helping a dark, messy-haired boy load his trunk onto the train. When she heard her father say her name, she slowly turned away from them. For some reason she thought she recognized the dark haired boy, but just couldn't place him. "Uh-huh?" she mumbled, finally facing her parents.

Her dad put his hand on her shoulder, and looked into her eyes. "Now, Katie. I don't want you getting into trouble. It'll cost too much to get the flight here," he said with a smile on his lips, but with sadness in his eyes. "I don't need to find out someone turned you into a frog cause you talked before you could think it through. I know you do that way too much," He smiled, but it didn't seem to reach his eyes. Kate realized that he had tears in his eyes.

"Oh dad," she said, hoping he wouldn't cry. "I won't do anything stupid like that. I just wanna fit in somewhere. You know that. I wouldn't do anything to risk not having friends." She looked into his eyes. The tears had started to fall. Before she could start crying as well, Kate looked at her mom.

Johanna was waiting for her turn, and when Kate looked at her, she reached over and hugged her daughter and whispered in her ear "I think you already have one."

Kate pulled away from her mom and turned to look at Rick who was getting onto the train already. Even though he was annoying, he somehow had become her friend over the last week. She smiled. "Yea, I guess I do." _At least I hope he feels the same way_ she thought.

She turned back to her mom, and gave her an extra hug. Then she hugged her dad. His tears seemed contagious, and she let a few fall while hugging him. Kate wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. "Bye," she mumbled as she turned to get on the train as fast as possible. She needed to stop crying. It was childish, and Rick would surely make fun of her.

Kate made her way through the throngs of people on the train to the compartment with Rick in it. As she opened the door Bertie hooted. Before Kate closed the door, she heard someone running by mentioning something about a tarantula.

Kate flopped down in the seat opposite of Rick. She took a look around at the people in the hall, the people on the platform, and the boy sitting across from her. She couldn't help but smile. She was finally going to the place she had been waiting for her entire life. Ever since Johanna had told her about Hogwarts, and that she was going to be going there when she turned 11, Kate had wanted to go to Hogwarts, and finally this day had come. "I can't believe this is happeneing," she said, without trying to keep her happiness in.

"I know, a month ago I never believed any of this existed," agreed Rick. He was grinning like the Cheshire cat as well.

A couple of minutes later, the train left the station. Kate waved out the window until the train had turned a corner. She sat back, and just looked out the window for a quiet half an hour. Rick seemed to be deep in thought, so Kate didn't want to disturb him.

Kate was enjoying the view of the green countryside, when a commotion broke out in the hall. Both Kate and Rick jumped up to see what it was about. Kate opened the door and looked out. Two boys who looked to be the same age as Kate and Rick were fighting.

The larger boy, who looked Hispanic, had a smaller, mousy haired boy in a headlock. "Hey! Get off me!" the small boy yelled.

"Take it back," said the bigger boy.

"Take…what back?" gasped the small boy. Kate could see he could barely breathe.

"Take back what you said about me being a…Mudblood." the larger boy said. The last word was accentuated with the sound of disgust.

Kate's eyes widened. A fight was bad enough on her first day to Hogwarts, and it probably meant bad luck to come. But now this smaller boy had called the larger one a mudblood. She didn't know much about the wizarding world, but she knew that mudblood was a really bad name for muggleborns.

Before the larger boy had a chance to strangle the small boy to death, an older student with fire red hair came walking down the hall towards the crowd gathering. Everyone gathered around the fight seemed to melt into the compartments, not wanting to get in trouble. Only Rick and Kate kept their heads poking out of the compartment.

The older boy grabbed the larger boy by the back of his shirt, causing the smaller boy to fall to the floor. The larger boy looked up to the boy who was holding onto him. "Man, what are you doin'? You know what he called me?" he demanded.

The older boy merely looked at him and replied, "I understand what happened and I'm not happy with him either. I'm Percy Weasley, and I happen to be a school prefect and fighting is not allowed on this train, magic or otherwise. So just who are you? You're getting written up since you're a first year and don't have a house assignment yet, so I can't dock house points…yet."

"Javier Esposito", the larger boy said, looking down, disgruntled, and possibly ashamed. Percy just nodded and let him go.

Percy then knelt down by the boy on the floor and asked "And are you all right?"

"Yea, I suppose so," he nodded, rubbing his neck where Javier had ahold of it.

"What's your name?" Percy asked. The other boy looked up suddenly with a look of fear in his eyes. "I need to write you up too. As you are the one who started the fight."

The boy shot a dirty look at Javier then looked back at Percy. "Kevin Ryan."

Percy stood up and looked at the small crowd who had gathered around again. Kate hadn't even noticed them until Percy said "Alright, the rest of you, move along, nothing more to see here. Come on." directed Percy. Kate thought that he kind of looked like the two red-heads she saw on the platform.

Javier shot a look at Kevin, then headed down the hall in the opposite direction of Kate and Rick. Kevin headed in the direction of them. Kate sat back in her seat. Before she knew it though, Rick was beckoning for Kevin to come into their compartment.

"Hey, come sit with us," he said, looking over at Kate to get her assurance.

Kate looked at Rick then at Kevin. Suddenly she came up with an idea. "Yeah, sure join us. Anyone who starts a fight to cover up insecurity is welcome here." She hoped both Kevin and Rick heard the sarcasm in her voice, but either they didn't hear the sarcasm or were just ignoring it.

"It's ok," said Rick, "she's always like that."

Kevin gave Kate a look then introduced himself to the both of them.

Rick butted into the introduction "Yea, we, um, know. We saw you get yelled at by Sir Dork-a-Lot out there."

Kate looked at Rick, "Rick that's not nice and you're one to talk. He's a prefect." She looked at Kevin and Rick in turn scathingly. "That means he can put you in detention and probably will if he hears you call him that." She pointed her finger out the door, hoping that it would make her point more clear for Kevin. "I'm Kate Beckett, that's Rick Castle. We're both first years as well."

Kevin looked between them, looking hopeful. "It's really nice of you guys to let me sit with you," he said, sitting down next to Rick, and across from Kate. Kate leaned forward and set her plan into action.

She raised her voice. "Do you know the meaning of the term you used? It's foul and cruel. Of course, you would know that if you had _any_ sense of respect for your fellow wizard, which you clearly don't." She suddenly turned her gaze towards Rick. While she was at it, she figured she may as well teach him a lesson too. "Rick you keep that in mind too." She continued, a bit quieter this time when she saw that Rick looked a bit scared. "I'm not scolding you. I'm just telling you in advance, you don't want to go around using language like that."

Kevin didn't look like he was very ashamed, but at least he had the decency to avoid eye contact with her. Rick was looking back and forth between them. Kate thought he looked uncomfortable. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," he said looking at Kate, then looked at Kevin, "So what's the deal with you and macho man back there?"

Kevin glanced up at Rick. Kate noticed that he was trying hard not to look at her. ""We grew up down the road from each other. We never got along. I didn't realize he was a wizard until I saw him on the platform this morning. All his family are muggles and he was never nice to me. Called me a freak because he accidently saw me do magic once when I was mad at him and I couldn't defend myself because of the law against exposing magic to muggles."

"So you don't have good history then?" Kate asked, eyeing Kevin, looking for a sign that the story wasn't over.

He finally looked up at her, "You could put it that way."

Rick looked at them. "So you hate him because he made fun of you when you were younger? That makes perfect sense." Rick looked like he may have had the same experience. Kate decided that she would have to ask him about it later.

"Sounds like maybe you need to think that one through, _Ryan_" she put emphasis on the last syllable, and raised her eyebrows. "We're all going to be at school together for the next seven years. We may as well learn to like another." She glanced from Kevin, to look at Rick. Her parents were right. They were going to be friends, whether she liked it or not. It was about time to find out if Rick wanted to be friends too. "Who knows? Maybe we could even be friends." she said, looking back at Kevin to look him in the eyes.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kate saw Rick smirk. She knew that he had caught the hidden question, and was hoping he would understand what it had meant.

"What if I don't want to be his friend?" asked Kevin defensively.

Kate was about to open her mouth, when Rick finally put his two cents in, "Then I guess that's your problem. But from what I just saw out there you probably should not pick another fight with him if you want to live through the year.

Kevin breathed out sharply and rolled his eyes. Kate looked at Rick and suppressed a smile. "I hate to admit it, but Rick is right."

Kevin looked at both of them, then put on a determined face. "Hey, that's it. I'm out of here." He looked at Kate, "Thanks for your _fantastic_ advice, but I think you should stay out of my business." He then looked at Rick, "I can take care of myself." And with that he hopped up and left, slamming the compartment door behind him. Kate stared after him. She was sure that their intervention was going to work. She didn't understand why it didn't though. Kate looked over at Rick, and it looked like he was at the same loss of words that she was.

He noticed Kate looking at him. "Great. Our first day and already we're making friends." He said with a small smile. It was obvious to Kate he was trying to break the tension.

Kate fell into her detective mode. She sometimes did this when she was trying to figure something out. "There's something he's not telling us. I can feel it and I could see it in his face. He's hiding something. I guess he's right through, it's none of our business."

"Kate we were just trying to help. Right?" Rick asked Kate. He looked like he was seriously doubting their actions.

"Well, I would think so. Kevin probably just thought we were being nosy." She was having the same thoughts as Rick, but after seeing his face, didn't want to show what she was thinking.

"I guess we're just going to wait and see what happens." Rick said, looking out the window at the passing countryside.

"I guess so." Kate replied, deciding it was best to agree with Rick.

After that, most of the train ride was enjoyable. Rick seemed to be sleeping, so Kate pulled _Standard Book of Spells: Grade 1_ out of her trunk and began to read. Every once in a while people would walk by, but Kate paid them no attention. The book was too interesting. She wasn't aware that levitating something would be so hard. Her mother made it look easy, levitating Kate's chair if she was bad, or lifting a heavy box. And if she said it wrong….whew, that would have bad consequences.

"Kate?"

"Hmmmm," Kate was pulled out of her book by Rick, who said her name so soft that she wasn't sure that she heard him. When she looked up, Rick was looking at her with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"So… are we friends now? You and me?" He seemed almost scared, but sure of himself at the same time. Kate was confused. She thought it was obvious.

"Do you want us to be friends Rick?"

"Yes, I'd like that," he said sheepishly.

"Even if we end up in different houses at Hogwarts?" she had to ask. What if they were? Could they still be friends?

"Yes." He seemed so sure of himself this time, that she didn't want to argue.

"Ok," she said offhandedly, "then I guess we're gonna be friends then." She said. She couldn't help but smile, and it seemed contagious, cause Rick smiled as well.

Suddenly she thought of something. "So does this mean you're going to stop being annoying?" She just had to ask.

Rick looked wounded, though Kate could see right through him. "When have I been annoying?" Kate could tell that he was mocking her, but she didn't mind. She just cocked her eyebrow at him and waited for an answer. He just smiled and answered "Not a chance."

By the time they finished talking, the train was beginning to slow down. Seeing as Kate and Rick were already mostly in their uniforms, they just slipped their new black robes on.

When the train stopped, Kate and Rick gathered their stuff and filed off the train with the rest of the students. Rick didn't think anyone noticed that he almost tripped over his trunk, but Kate noticed. She didn't mention anything, just to be nice. And maybe some blackmail later.

They left their luggage in a pile with all the other students. It would be taken separately to the school. Kate was about to follow the older students when a booming voice from the other end of the platform caught her attention.

"Firs' years this way. Firs' years follow me." She had thought she knew all about the magical world, but her mom had never told her about a man like the one standing there. He seemed to be twice the height of a normal man, and five times as wide. His whole face was covered in hair, but Kate could see his beady black eyes and his mouth. Both gave the impression that he was kindly, despite his size.

Kate decided that they may as well follow him. The group following him looked to be first years, so she figured it couldn't be that bad. She nudged Rick, and they followed the man. "Firs' years, this way to the boats. Follow me you lot."

They followed the man down a dirt path. When they turned a corner they were on a beach with boats in the sand. In front of them loomed a very dark lake. On the opposite side of the lake loomed Hogwarts Castle. Kate stared up at it. She could tell there were towers, and _lots_ of windows. She had never been in a castle, and this view of it was intimidating.

Kate crawled into one of the boats with Rick. The Esposito boy and a dark skinned girl joined them. Kate was wondering how they were going to get off the sand, when the boats started moving on their own accord. The dark haired boy Kate had seen on the platform was in the boat in front of them, along with a red headed boy, a bushy haired girl, and a plump boy.

As they got nearer to the castle, Kate heard Rick mumble "Wow." She smiled. She had been thinking the same thing.

"I know. Isn't it great?" she asked looking at him with a big smile on her face.

He turned to her. His smile seemed to mirror hers "It's fantastic. Better than I pictured."

The boats came to a stop in a boat house. All the first years followed the large man up the steps to the school. They entered through large doors, and were met by an older witch in dark green robes. She did not seem like the person to cross. And Kate wasn't planning to.

She looked at the group gathered in front of her. "Welcome to Hogwarts."

**A/N: Sorry for the delay. But I'm excited! first update since June! Summer jobs and school have not been kind. In any case, I hope you like it! With any luck, the next chapter won't be as long to publish.**

**R&R please. Constructive criticism is always welcome!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: So here is the next chapter. Sorry it's a bit late, but school does not let go very easily. Hope it pleases everyone!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Castle. I just own some of the plot.**

CHAPTER 7-

Kate looked up at the woman. She turned around and motioned them to follow her. Kate looked over at Rick and shrugged. They followed her to a small room. Kate looked up at the tall ceiling, then back at the witch standing before them all.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said the woman. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses." Kate remembered her mother mentioning the houses. Kate glanced over her shoulder at Rick. His face seemed to be caught between confusion and pure joy. She couldn't help but giggle at him. She turned away before she could catch his reaction.

"The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts." continued the witch. Kate looked around at the students around her. She highly doubted that any of them could be like her family. " You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points." For some reason Kate knew that Rick would be the first to break any rules.

"At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." She looked around at the students in front of her. Her eyes lingered on the pudgy boy and the red head who were in the boat in front of them.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said the older witch. "Please wait quietly." The witch left the room. Rick and Kate turned to look at each other. They couldn't help but grin.

"What house do you think you're going to be in?" Kate asked Rick. She had been thinking about it ever since her mom had told her about the houses. She didn't think she'd be in Hufflepuff. It sounded like only the weak minded were put in there. And Slytherins only turned out dark wizards from what Johanna had told her. Kate was sure it was going to be Ravenclaw or Gryffindor.

Rick only shuffled his feet and looked down at them. "I don't know much about the houses." He looked up at her. "I'll probably be in the worst house."

Kate actually felt sorry for him. She put her hand on his shoulder, "I'm sure you're going to be in a great house. Any house that gets you is going to be getting the best guy I know." She smiled at him. "And the most annoying. They won't know what to do with you" she gave him a sidelong smile and turned to examine the room.

She was looking at the stained glass at the back when suddenly a ghost came through it. It looked like a monk, he was at least wearing what looked like a habit. Kate gasped as what seemed like twenty other ghost floated through the wall as well. Kate had known about the ghosts of Hogwarts castle, but she hadn't thought she would be introduced to them so soon. She took a step back and stepped on something. The gasp from Rick behind her made her realize it had been his foot.

The monk one was talking to another of the ghosts, who seemed to be from Shakespeare's time (at least Kate hoped so, otherwise he must have been crazy to wear those puffy sleeves and way too tight pants). They seemed to be arguing about something, but Kate was too far away to hear what it was about. Suddenly, the Shakespearian one seemed to notice the twenty odd eleven year olds below them.

The monk looked absolutely pleased. "New students!" he exclaimed. He looked around at all the students. "About to be sorted, I suppose?"

Kate nodded mutely. Rick just stared at the ghosts, motionless with his mouth open.

The monk just smiled even wider. "Hope to see you in Hufflepuff! My old house you know."

Rick jumped when a voice came from right behind him. Kate looked over her shoulder. The older witch was standing right behind Rick. "Move along now," she said sharply. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

Kate looked back at the ghosts. They were already disappearing through the opposite wall they came in.

"Now, form a line, and follow me." The witch turned on her heel, and led them out the door. Kate and Rick had no choice but to follow her out the door in the side of the room. It led them right into the dining hall.

Kate looked up at the ceiling stunned. She almost stumbled over Rick, who was also looking up at the ceiling. It was filled with candles just floating in the air. As the witch was walking through them, her hat almost touched a couple, but they seemed to move out of the way on their own. Above the candles was the sky. Instead of a ceiling, there was the sky. Kate was sure it was enchanted, she still couldn't keep her eyes off of it.

Before she knew it, she was at the front of the room in front of the head table. The man in the middle seemed to be the headmaster. He had long silver hair, and half-moon glasses. In between the head table and the first years was a stool with a ragged wizards hat on it. Kate turned around and looked at the entire room. There were four tables filled with students in the black school robes. Kate looked over at Rick. He seemed to be deep in thought. She decided not to bug him. And it was a good thing because at that moment, the hat began to sing.

"_Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,_

_But don't judge on what you see, _

_I'll eat myself If you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_If you've a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folk use any means _

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

The hall was deafening. Everyone there was cheering once the hat had finished his song. It bowed to each of the tables then became still. Kate could only stare at it. This was too much that her mom hadn't told her. Kate felt like she was going to be sick.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted." She opened the roll of paper and began to read names. "Abbott, Hannah!" Kate watched a girl with pigtails go up to the hat. She sat down, and the older witch placed the hat on her head. Kate watched, wringing her hands wondering what it would do. A moment later-

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The table furthest to the right exploded with cheers. The girl jumped off the chair and stumbled towards the table.

Then came the two words Kate was dreading. "Beckett, Katherine!"

Kate shouldered her way through the people in front of her. She walked up the few steps to the stool and sat down. The older witch placed the hat on her head. It slipped over her eyes, and Kate was suddenly blinded to the rest of the hall. Suddenly a voice sounded in her ear.

"_Hmm quite an intelligent mind, but brave too."_ Kate nearly fell off the stool. She gripped the sides and tried to keep her hands from shaking. _"Not a hard decision though,"_

Suddenly the voice changed and Kate knew that the rest of the hall could now hear the hat. _"RAVENCLAW!"_

The older witch pulled the hat off, and Kate hopped off of the stool. It took her only a few seconds to find the table she was supposed to go to. It was the table cheering the loudest. Kate tried to keep her emotions under control while she strode over to the table of blue and bronze. As she sat down, several of the older students patted her on the back.

Kate turned around just as another girl was sorted into Hufflepuff.

"Boot, Terry" was sorted into Ravenclaw as well, along with "Brocklehurst, Mandy". "Brown, Lavender" a girl with curly brown hair was the first sorted into Gryffindor, and "Bulstrode, Millicent" was the first to be sorted into Slytherin.

"Castle, Richard." He looked over at Kate. She gave him a smile and a thumbs up. He stepped up to the hat, and sat on the stool as the older witch placed the hat on his head. It wasn't long before it called out _"HUFFLEPUFF"_. Rick looked almost relieved as he stepped down the few stairs and walked over to the table of yellow and black.

The Hispanic boy was next. When "Esposito, Javier" was called, he calmly stepped up to the stool and put the hat on his head. The only indication that he was nervous was his hands, which were shaking. After a short moment, the hat announced "_HUFFLEPUFF"_. Javier slowly walked to the table and sat down next to Rick.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin" also went to Hufflepuff, while "Finnigan, Seamus" went to Gryffindor. "Granger, Hermione" was called next, and the bushy-haired girl from the boats eagerly ran to the stool and stuffed the hat onto her head. Kate thought she looked a bit too eager for someone whose head looked like it could house a family of birds in it. Hermione was sorted into Gryffindor.

The plump kid stumbled up to the stool when "Longbottom, Neville" was called. When _"GRYFFINDOR" _was called, he was halfway to the Gryffindor table when he realized that the hat was on his head. He had to run back to the stool to give the hat to the next in line.

Kate was starting to feel hungry. She barely paid attention when "Ryan, Kevin" was sorted into Gryffindor, or when "Parish, Lanie" joined Kate at the Ravenclaw table.

The one name that did catch her attention, along with everybody else's in the hall, at once and was "Potter, Harry".

Kate looked up so fast that she nearly got whiplash. The black-haired boy she saw on the platform, then in the boats was walking up to the stool. He looked nervous, but walked up to the stool calmly. The whole hall seemed to be holding their breaths while the hat made up its mind (if it had one) about where to place him. Kate knew that every person in the hall was hoping it was their house. He seemed to be mumbling something.

It was a few minutes before the hat called to the entire hall _"GRYFFINDOR"_. The whole hall filled with the cheers from the Gryffindor table. Kate was nearly deafened by the sound. Kate looked over at Rick. He was staring at Harry in amazement. Obviously someone had told him the story of Harry Potter.

The red head from the boats was put into Gryffindor, then a dark boy was sorted into Slytherin. Finally all the first years were sorted.

Kate could hear her stomach growl as a man with long silver hair and half-moon spectacles stood up. She immediately recognized him as Albus Dumbledore—headmaster of Hogwarts and the best known wizard in the world. Even muggleborns had heard of him.

"Welcome. Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts!" he smiled around at all the students. "Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

Kate stared at him. She was sure her mouth was hanging open.

"Thank you!" Dumbledore finished and sat down to a thunderous applause. Kate still had her mouth open when the food appeared on the table. It was more food in one place than Kate had ever seen. There was pork, chicken, and beef, along with every vegetable existing under the sun.

"Pass the potatoes?" asked the girl sitting next to Kate. She remembered that the girls name was Lanie Parish. Kate picked up the bowl of fluffy mashed potatoes in front of her and passed it down the table to Lanie.

"Lanie, right?" Kate asked. When the girl nodded, Kate extended her hand. "I'm Kate," Lanie put down the potatoes and shook Kate's hand. As Kate reached for the beef roast, Kate asked Lanie "So Lanie. Where are you from? Definitely not from around here, by the sounds of it."

Lanie took a swallow. "Nope. New York born and raised. Where are you from? You sound like you're from the states too."

"Yep. New York as well actually," Kate said. Kate and Lanie spent the rest of the meal talking about New York, and what they were expecting from Hogwarts. As it turned out, Lanie was a muggle born. Both of her parents were shocked when she had gotten the letter, and almost didn't let her come, thinking it was a scam. Kate occasionally looked over at Rick. He seemed to be enjoying himself. He was talking to the Hispanic boy from the train.

After dinner came the desserts. There was ice cream, pie, parfaits, and any other dessert you could imagine. Once everyone had eaten their full of the sweets, the plates and tables magically cleared.

Dumbledore stood up. "Ahem—just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.

"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Kate noticed that he looked over at a set of red headed twins at the Gryffindor table. She knew that she probably would never enter the forest. There was probably bats in there, and she could not stand bats.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch."

Suddenly Dumbledore seemed to get very serious. "And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death." With that, a few students laughed, but it died down very quickly. Kate looked around the Hall. Most of the students seemed to be worried about this premonition by the headmaster. Apparently this was not something that happened very often.

Dumbledore quickly gained back the twinkle in his eye. "And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" He flicked his wand, and a scroll appeared above the head table and unrolled. "Everyone pick their favorite tune, and off we go!"

"_Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_

_Teach us something please,_

_Whether we be old and bald_

_Or young with scabby knees,_

_Our heads could do with filling _

_With some interesting stuff,_

_For now they're bare and full of air,_

_Dead flies and bits of fluff_

_So teach us things worth knowing_

_Bring back what we've forgot_

_Just do your best _

_We'll do the rest_

_And learn until our brain all rot."_

Every person in the hall finished the tune at different times. The last ones were the red-headed Gryffindor twins.

When it was finished, Dumbledore was the one to clap the loudest. He even had tears in his eyes, which he wiped away before continuing "Ah, music, a magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

All of a sudden, the entire hall was moving. Kate stood up and looked around. An older student was calling over all the ruckus "First year Ravenclaws follow me! First year Ravenclaws!" Kate quickly followed the student, with Lanie close behind her. Kate noticed Rick was heading towards the doors too. He was just behind Harry Potter. He looked over at her and they both smiled at each other. Then she lost him in the crowd.

They left the Great Hall, and crossed the entrance hall to the main staircase. They climbed for what seemed like ages. Finally they turned down a hall and then headed up another set of stairs. This time they wound in tight circles. There was barely enough room for them to fit single file going up the stairs. Luckily Kate was towards the front and was able to see a very plain door. It didn't even have a keyhole or door handle.

The older student knocked once on the door, and to Kate's surprise, an eagle's head appeared from the door and called out in a sing song voice "_You can take away the whole and still have some left. You can take away some and still have the whole left. What is it?_" The older student seemed to think about, then answered "The word 'wholesome'." The eagle merely nodded, and the door swung open.

The first year Ravenclaw's walked into their common room. It was a very large room, with arched windows surrounding the room. The ceiling was a dome painted with stars that seemed to be reflected in the carpet under their feet. Everywhere seemed to be draped in blue and bronze silks. And standing just on the opposite side of the room was a large marble statue, next to a staircase. The statue was of a woman wearing a tiara. There were words on the tiara, but they were too small for Kate to read them from where she was standing.

"Welcome to the Ravenclaw common room," said the older student. "Up the stairs and to the right are the girls dormitories. To the left are the boys dormitories. Your trunks and other things have already been taken up. Welcome to Ravenclaw."

The group of first years split into two groups—boys and girls. Kate led the way up the stairs and to the right. She kept climbing until she reached a door that read 'First Years'. She opened the door, and walked into her new bedroom. The other four girls followed her. There were five four-poster beds and dressers spread around the circular room, with a door leading into what must have been the lavatory.

"Oooo…a girl could get used to _this._" Kate heard Lanie admire the room from the bed to her left.

Kate, chuckled a bit at her new friend's words and was starting to realize just how tired she was. She walked over to her trunk and pulled out her pajama pants and a t-shirt. She changed into them, then crawled under her new blue comforter. She saw the other girls doing the same thing.

Kate couldn't help but smile as she fell asleep.

**A/N: Thank You to everyone who is alerting, favoriting, reviewing, etc! We (Hufflepuff519 and I) were thinking of changing the title. Seeing as there is no 'murder' (and other than Quirrell wouldn't Harry have known about it?), we are gonna take the murder out of the title. **

**Also, we are sorry that the stories seem to be repetitive. Even when we are reading them, they become repetitive. But hopefully now that they are at Hogwarts, Kate and Rick will be separated more, so the stories will be different too.**

**Now I need a favor from all the wonderful readers. I need riddles to get into the Ravenclaw common room. If I don't get help, I'm sure I'm gonna start using lamer riddles, and none of us want that. So either review some good riddles, or pm me and I will hopefully put the riddle into the story.**

**R&R please!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or any of the places really. They all belong to J.K. or ABC. I am just putting them together and creating a (sometimes wacky) storyline.**

**Chapter 8- Ecstasy**

It took Kate a few minutes to wake up. She stared blurrily at the curtains around her bed. She was finally able to see the sun shining through the curtains clearly, with the dust particles swirling majestically.

She sat up and stretched her arms above her, hands brushing against the cloth hanging that was the top of her bed. She could hear her back crack. Kate resumed her normal posture, and opened the curtains around her bed, and saw that the rest of her dorm mates were still asleep. She lightly put her feet down on the floor, and peered out the window.

Her first view of the Hogwarts grounds was a promising one. The sun was just coming above the surrounding mountains, glistening on the lake. The grounds were sparkling with the newly fallen dew, and she could see some smoke coming out of a hut close to a dark forest.

Kate quietly made her way to the bathroom, trying to make sure that she didn't wake up any of her new friends. She showered quickly, and leaving the bathroom, wearing her new uniform, she nearly ran into Lanie, who seemed like she was still asleep.

'Mmmph.' Was all Kate got out of her before Lanie shut the bathroom door in her face. Kate just smiled and walked over to her bed. She could hear the other girls finally waking up. She pulled her hair brush out of her trunk and sat down on her bead to start brushing her hair while she watched the other girls make their way from their beds.

'Morning!' Kate said cheerfully. Two of the girls just stared at her, and the other mumbled something like a 'morning', but Kate couldn't be sure. She decided that it probably wasn't a good thing to be a morning person in this dormitory.

Instead of forcing her cheerfulness on the other girls, Kate grabbed one of her new school books, _Standard Book of Spells_, and began reading.

She had nearly finished the first chapter when the rest of the girls finally had their showers and were dressed. Kate's hair was nearly dry when she finally closed the book and joined the others heading down to the Great Hall. Lanie seemed like she wasn't quite fully awake yet, so Kate decided not to say anything.

They reached the Great Hall, and Kate was nearly as surprised as the previous night. Instead of a ceiling of stars, this morning it was bright blue, with a few wispy clouds—it looked very similar to how the sky appeared when she had looked outside nearly an hour earlier.

The Great Hall didn't have very many people in it yet. It didn't surprise Kate that most of the people sitting in the great hall were Ravenclaws. It made sense as they would be the ones who wanted a head start on their classes by eating breakfast first so they could get to their first classes with as much extra time as possible. As a matter of fact, the only other person in the Hall besides Ravenclaws was a bushy haired girl wearing the red and gold of Gyffindor.

Kate sat down next to Lanie and started eating. It wasn't long before Lanie looked much more awake—apparently food woke her up. After about ten minute of eating, Kate felt an elbow in her side as she was taking a sip of her tea. The hot liquid sloshed down her chin and landed on her new skirt. Kate glanced up with a look of pure irritation. Lanie was pointing to what seemed like a bodiless pair of hands giving each student a piece of paper.

'What do you think that is?' Lanie asked, not looking at all sorry for ruining Kate's skirt.

'I don't know.' Grunted Kate, using a napkin to try to clean up the mess on her skirt. She glanced up, 'looks like it's coming in our direction so we'll find out soon.'

Sure enough, the hand came into sight, along with the body that it belonged to. It was a short man, with thin graying hair.

'Names please?' he asked, in a high pitched voice, looking at Kate and Lanie.

It didn't take long for Kate to get over the little man. It took Lanie longer, so Kate answered him first. 'Kate Beckett.'

He looked through the pile of papers he was holding. It looked like he was going to drop them all, but he finally pulled out a piece of paper, looked at it, then handed it to Kate smiling.

'Katherine, yes?' Kate nodded, ashamed that almost everybody here didn't know her as Kate. The little man just beamed. 'A first year! It is a pleasure to have you in my house. If you don't already know, I am professor Flitwick. I am the head of Ravenclaw House, and professor of Charms, which you have later today.'

Kate took the paper, and smiled back. 'Thank you.'

Professor Flitwick then turned to Lanie. 'And you are?'

'Lanie Parish.' Said Lanie, finally getting over her shock of the professor.

Professor Flitwick went through the same process, getting closer to dropping the papers this time. After Lanie he moved on to the other first year girls, who were also staring wide-eyed at the little man.

Kate and Lanie spent the next few minutes going over their schedules, all thoughts of Kate's tea-stained skirt put out of their minds.

'Charms should be interesting.' Said Kate, smiling, and looking up at Lanie.

Lanie just shook her head. 'Too much magic for me. Potions sounds better. You know? Less magic, more chemistry, like back in the 'muggle' world. I liked chemistry.' She said, starting to look a little glum.

Kate saw that Lanie was starting to look a little sad, possibly at the homesickness, and shouldered her friend and smiled at her. 'Only you would like chemistry.' That made Lanie perk up a bit.

They had nearly finished breakfast when Kate looked up and saw that Rick had finally reached the Great Hall. She smiled and waved at him. He waved back, then went back to the boy that Kate remembered as Javier.

'I better go change before Transfiguration starts, no thanks to you.' Kate said, looking over at Lanie.

Lanie finally looked sorry for what she had done. 'I'll come with you. Now that I know what we are taking today, I can get rid of some un-needed books.'

Kate and Lanie made their way back up the tower to the common room. They were stopped by the eagle in the door.

"_Now you see me, now you don't. I'll light your path when the sun and moon won't. Fleeing from danger or running to fight, I'm a sign of life in blackest night. What am I?"_

Kate was stumped. She didn't need this on their first day! She needed to get to Transfiguration, and not be late.

'A flashlight?' she asked, hoping that she would be right.

'No.' answered the eagle. Kate stomped her foot in aggravation.

Kate suddenly remembered a little bit of British slang. 'How about a torch?' She knew that was the British word for flashlight.

In the same tone the eagle answered, 'No.' Kate was not impressed with this eagle that thought it knew everything.

'A firefly.'said Lanie, with no question in her voice.

The eagle merely nodded, and the door opened, letting them into the common room. Kate looked at Lanie, who just shrugged. 'I just thought of something alive that gave off light, and came up with a firefly.'

Kate just shook her head, and the two made their way into the common room. The rest of the house was down in the Great Hall or on their way to classes, so it wasn't hard to make their way up to their dorm. Kate quickly changed into a new skirt, while Lanie plopped down onto her bed and stared at the top of the bed.

After Kate had changed, and the two of them had changed their books, Kate and Lanie nearly ran to the Transfiguration classroom. They had seen the door the few times that they had made their way to and from their tower. Kate looked at her watch as they neared the door to the classroom. They were still five minutes early.

Kate nearly ran into a body as she entered the classroom. She looked up from her watch and noticed it was Rick. She watched him for a few seconds staring at the classroom in awe. She eventually tapped him on the shoulder.

'Hey you.' Rick nearly jumped out of his shoes. He turned around, and Kate looked him in the eye.

'Hey back,' he replied. Kate could tell he was trying to brush off his surprise. So, Kate decided to leave him be.

Instead, she changed the subject, even though there wasn't much of one to start with. 'You have this class now too?' she asked.

Rick looked down at his schedule. 'It looks that way.' He looked back up at Kate.

Kate looked behind her and noticed that they were blocking the door. 'Well then maybe you could find a seat?' she asked, gesturing to the almost empty classroom behind him.

'Huh?' he looked truly confused.

Kate smiled and jabbed her thumb over her shoulder to indicate the massing students behind her. 'We're blocking the doorway.'

Rick looked over her shoulder and blushed slightly. 'Oh! Sorry.'

Kate rolled her eyes, and followed Rick into the classroom, allowing the rest of the students, including Lanie, to enter the classroom. Rick stopped at the end of one of the rows, and was switching his gaze between herself and a boy waving at him from further down the row. She knew he was struggling who to sit by.

So Kate decided that she needed to be properly introduced to the boy from the train, and walked over to him and introduced herself. "Hello, I'm Kate." She offered her hand and the boy grasped and shook it.

"It's nice to meet you, Kate. My name's Esposito."

Kate didn't want him to know that she knew his name. He didn't know that she had witnessed his fight on the train. So she just smirked. 'You got a name, cowboy?'

He looked like he was struggling whether or not to tell her his first name. Finally he did. 'It's Javier."

'Well nice to meet you Javier. Rick, why don't you sit here with _our_ new friend? Lanie is calling me over there anyway.' She pointed over to Lanie who was saving a seat and looking on with great interest. 'See you guys after class?' she asked, turning to leave.

'Later.' Javier called to her back. Kate smiled as she walked to her spot. She wondered how Javier would interpret her '_our_ friend'.

Kate sat down, and pulled some parchment, a quill, and ink out of her bag. She could feel Lanie staring at her. She finally looked up at Lanie. 'What?'

'Who were they?' she asked, looking as if it was a life or death question, yet still with a half smile on her lips.

'Rick Castle was the one I was talking to at first, and his friend is Javier Esposito.'

Kate was saved from answering any more annoying questions by the entrance of the professor. Kate recognized her as the woman who showed them into the Great Hall. She finally found out that her name was Professor McGonagall, and she was the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. Kate recognized her name from her welcome letter.

The class started by taking notes on basic transfiguration. Kate didn't technically enjoy taking notes, but she didn't mind them. She had mastered the art of writing with a quill quickly, and so was able to take notes without a hitch. McGonagall then had them take notes from the first chapter of the book. Kate heard Rick say something across the room, and looked up. Professor McGonagall was staring at him. Kate then got into her book, and didn't even notice when the Professor changed into a cat.

For the last ten minutes of class, they were allowed to try turning matchsticks into needles. Needless to say, no one got very far. Kate swore that her matchstick had gotten shinier, but that could have been her imagination.

Professor McGonagall finally dismissed them, and Kate and Lanie were among the first to gather their things and leave the classroom. Kate kept her promise, and she and Lanie waited outside the classroom until Rick came out with Javier. Kate walked up to them, with Lanie close on her heels and they group moved away from the door.

Kate was the first to speak, seeing as she was the one who now knew all of them. 'Boys, I'd like you to meet my friend, Lanie Parish. She's a fellow New Yorker just like us Rick.' She smiled at Rick and Javier, then turned back to Lanie. 'Lanie, this is Rick Castle and Javier Esposito.' She suddenly remembered something, and turned back to look at Javier. 'Sorry, Javier. I never did ask where you were from.'

'The Bronx, NYC.' He answered without much thought.

'No kidding,' Lanie replied, finally joining in on the converstaon with a smile. 'Staten Island.' She said, laying her hand near her heart.

Javier just smiled and nodded. Kate thought he looked embarrassed. Rick looked like he didn't like being ignored, and waved. 'Hey'

Lanie then looked over Rick, as if deciding on a piece of meat. 'Hello.' She said. She then turned back to Kate and whispered in her ear, making sure that the boys couldn't hear, 'How come the first two boys we talk to here are good looking ones from the states?' Kate couldn't help but smile. Lanie continued, 'I was thinking I would get some good looking British boy or something.'

Kate figured that she should probably laugh, though she was kind of confused. She understood the good-looking part, but she wasn't planning on 'getting' a boy until she was much older. 'Our moms knew each other, and we met up with each other on the way over here. We've been together over here for nearly two weeks now.'

Lanie laughed knowingly, but Kate still didn't get it. Rick then cleared his throat, and Lanie and Kate looked back at him. Kate could barely contain her laughter at how uncomfortable Rick looked. 'So, uh, what class do you have next?' Kate asked, hoping he wouldn't ask what they were talking about.

'Well,' replied Rick, looking down at a crumpled piece of paper. 'we are actually due for a free period, then lunch. After lunch we've got Potions and then Charms.'

Lanie replied before Kate could get a word in. 'Guess we'll be seeing you in Potions then. We've got History of Magic after that.'

Kate looked at her watch then grabbed Lanie by the sleeve, and tried to pull her away. 'Well, we have to go. We've got charms next. Don't want to be late. Come on, Lanie.' Lanie seemed reluctant to leave their friends.

Kate heard Rick say, 'See ya later. Nice to meet you Lanie.'

Lanie replied 'You too Castle. Javier, see you later.'

Then came a reply from Javier, that Kate swore was 'Sure, whatever.' Then they were weaving through the crowds of students heading off to their next classes. Kate had a general idea where she was going, but at the same time had no idea how to find the Charms classroom.

She stopped an older student wearing a red and gold tie. She remembered him as a Percy Weasley from the train. He told them where the Charms classroom was, and Kate hurried Lanie along in the direction he pointed. They slid into their seats as the clock struck the hour when class was supposed to start. Kate caught her breath and looked over to Lanie. They nearly broke down laughing again at the thought of Rick and Javier. Kate knew she had already made some good friends, and hoped that it would be a good school year, without any troublemaking.

**A/N: Oh My God! It has been forever since I wrote anything for this. I looked and the last time I published was a year and a half ago! I am glad to get back into it. It has been hard coordinating with my friend Hufflepuff (who writes Castle's POV if you didn't know). But finally a new chapter! Yay! R&R and let me know what you think! Also, I am always looking for new riddles to get into the common room. I already got some great ones, but I am looking for more. Let me know if you have any. Hopefully a new chapter isn't too far away (as it is my turn to make the new chapter ****).**


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